“Who?” I ask. Cammi doesn’t hate anyone.

“The woman who gave birth to you. I hate her. I hate that she left you and your brothers. I hate that because of her, you never got to experience what it’s like to have a mother. I hate that you’re losing sleep now because of her.”

I lean over and kiss the top of Cammi’s head. “You can’t miss something you never had,” I tell her.

“But you can miss the idea of something,” she counters. She’s not wrong. “What are you going to do? You know I’ll be there for whatever you choose. If you choose to go and see her, I’ll go with you. If you choose to just let her stay buried, then I’ll go visit her gravesite with you.”

“I love you.” I squeeze her tighter to me. “Gio says to leave it alone.”

“Fuck what Gio says. This isn’t about what he wants. This is about what you want.” Cammi looks up at me. “Don’t think about what your brothers want to do. They don’t know the doubt your sperm donor filled your head with. Do what you need to do for yourself.”

I smile down at my wife. “You know you’re fucking hot when you get angry.”

“I can feel your pain, Vin. I can feel it when you hurt. And right now, you’re hurting. Don’t run from that. Do what you have to do to get answers. Or decide that you can live the rest of your life without them.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Good. Now kiss me like it’s the first and last time you ever will,” she demands.

“Never gonna be a last time,” I tell her before my lips land on hers.

Chapter Two

Aurelio stares back at me with a huge, drool-filled grin. I sit him in front of me on my desk, my hand wrapping around his back, supporting him so he doesn’t fall.

“I will never leave you,” I promise my son.

When I look at him, think about this innocent boy, I can’t understand how any parent could ever just walk away from their kid. How a father could subject their child to abuse.

I mourned her. For years, I mourned the death of my mother. I hated the man because I was sure he killed her. I plotted revenge for her. I was going to kill him for her.